Interesting question in an article from The Age today - are we overdiagnosing and overmedicating our children? http://www.essentialkids.com.au/health/autism/the-over-diagnosed-debate-20130613-2o5mb.html
Children who are diagnosed with conditions like ADHD, Autism, Asperger's Syndrome - are we getting better at diagnosing, or are we jumping the gun to medicate too quickly? In some cases, I believe the latter is true - there are so many reasons why children 'play up' and in some cases, this can be due to an intolerance or sensitivity to a food, or chemical. Remove the offending intolerance item, the child calms down. The elimination of certain foods and chemicals from ones life can take some time to investigate, so do people just not bother and take the easier option of medication? It's a very interesting debate!
For 64% of kids diagnosed with ADHD, a food intolerance is found to be the cause. Thats a huge percentage! Common intolerances include gluten, additives, preservatives and sugar. These allergies may also cause deficiencies of nutrients, such as zinc, omega-3 fatty acids (important for the brain) and protein (which helps with the production of neurotransmitters - chemicals which help with mood balance).
Many parents are not aware of the evils of some preservatives - one that is common in fizzy drinks (and I've mentioned in other blogs - Sodium Benzoate (211). Pick up a fizzy drink, you are likely to see this as one of the ingredients. This happy little guy has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA and when consumed with vitamin C, becomes carcinogenic. Parents may be looking at mineral water for kids as a 'healthy' alternative to coke, but its not a healthy alternative at all.
Please note I'm not trying to belittle any childs condition - every childs case is different, I'm writing this because some parents may not be aware of what can be done before putting their child on a lifetime supply of meds - I think it's important for them be aware of the alternatives.
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